Author's Notes

You may notice that there's something rather ironic about the confrontation towards the middle of this chapter. Phul is an Olympian spirit which rules over the moon, and is quoted to have provided the 'Spirits of Water.' Lilithmon is the demon lord of lust. Her planet is the moon, and her spirit is Phul. And yet she targeted the warrior of fire, which is antagonistic to water spirits she/he provides. Why him will be explained in the sequel...I think. It's not explicitly in the plan, so...yeah.

I know that scene's pretty pitiful in the grand scale of cool evil showdowns, but keep in mind those periods of 'enlightenment' that occurred throughout the story. Lilithmon was essentially drained of power, and that was just a last ditch effort overthrown with heart. It's actually more significant in the sequel.

By the way, the sequel is called Achilles' Heel, named after the term which alludes to the Greek legend about the heroic warrior Achilles whose mother tried to make him immortal by holding the infant by his heel and dipping him into the River Styx. Eventually he was killed by an arrow shot into his undipped heel. So the moral is even immortality is mortal. Ie. Everything can be defeated. I'll put the info up after the epilogue, but I might finish off some other stories before starting it.

Chapters remaining after this: 2

Up next: It's over, or so they thought. But returning to the real world and reaching for the very one they had shied away from when in need, they find an ironic role reversal where their saviour is now the one in need of saving...and where blinded light is the only thing that can save him.

Enjoy.

Butterflies' Flight

AU. Like butterflies, they followed the flame, drawn to his light, despite that fact that following so blindly could potentially lead to corruption. And yet they shy away from the dark, the one thing that may save them yet...

Takuya K & Kouichi K

Chapter 13 – When the Blind Eyes Open

No-body said anything for the longest while, save the little baby digimon who now tethered on the edge of the abyss, barely held back by Baromon's cape and sobbing for his 'father', the one consistent being in his utterly fragmented life.

The great female angel bowed her head, before tilting it up to look at the sky. 'How could we have forgotten...' she whispered, voice still as majestic as it ever was but nothing like the biting command that had previously laced. Now it simply sounded humbled, soft...but not as such as defeat. Rather, as though the world had come to an unspoken compromise, letting what they should have done at the beginning come about, before ideals and conflicting views had warped the noble cause. 'The gate always opens at the eclipse. It is a time where the balance of the universe is at its most vulnerable. We could have destroyed everything...save perhaps ourselves.'

'We are already destroyed,' Cherubimon amended, looking at the sand vanishing as though a low tide was running over it. 'I can see your petals in the distance.'

Ophanimon looked in the direction and sighted them too, the white blossoms riding the wind and heralding the approach of rebirth. '"As the snow white blossoms scatter in the wind, the page turns and the world begins anew..."' she quoted, before looking again at the split ground. 'I stand for life, but not this.'

'Nor do I,' the other responded. 'But no permanent death has resulted from this.'

That caused everyone's heads to shoot up in surprise, including the refined angel who for a moment looked rather comical.

'Is it possible for a human to be reborn like a digimon in this world?' Bokomon asked, torn between gaining knowledge and attempting rather hopelessly to reserve tact.

'No, it is not-'

The hope dropped, until the next statement left them in utter confusion.

'But he was not truly in this world, and that may have saved him.'

Ophanimon looked at him. 'What do you mean? He came on the Trailmon's I call-' She paused, realising that he hadn't. 'I hadn't even contacted him.'

'No,' the beast-angel affirmed. 'Nor did anyone else. His body and spirit were somehow split, and the spirits of darkness sought him on the spiritual plane and from there I drew him into this one. Perhaps I had underestimated him in doing so; he surpassed all expectation, controlling and purifying spirits that held an unrelenting curse that ran centuries old. In any case, his body is not here, the physical form came from the spirits, so it is possible that his spirit, broken free from this world, will simply reunite with his body, but there is also the chance that he will wonder elsewhere too.'

He looked at the children, none of whom had said a world. 'I do not know much about human ways,' he said to them, something akin to remorse in his voice. 'But I do know the purity and the bonds between children like yourselves is more powerful than you can imagine.'

'That is why the spirits called out to you across barriers,' Ophanimon continued in the same tone, up to speed now after having attained the missing piece of information. 'The six of you share a bond, and people in what you call a coma have been drawn out from such bonds before. There is still hope yet. In fact...' She looked up at the vortex swirling, before smiling. 'Time passes differently between fragments of space. 'The six of you will reunite.'

Four of the six were simply relieved, if nothing more, that a childish game not had not cost a life of someone chained into its proceedings, but for two, it was something more. Kouji could scarcely believe it all, but it seemed the plague had vanished by the sledgehammer blow. Another opportunity for everything: a life, a brother, another mother...and he knew that this time, he wasn't going to waste any of it. For Takuya, suddenly flooded with memories he had pushed away, was faced with the consequences of the average child/teenager reaction that persisted with a loss of face. From there, there was only restoration, and apologies to bring that about.

'You must now return.' That was Baromon, though they could no longer see him, nor anything else save the other humans. 'Or you will be lost.'

Nothing else was said. Goodbyes, if they were thought, vanished into a void, around which white petals swirled around them, stealing the last of their consciousness.

Ophanimon and Cherubimon looked at each other as the seal was finally released. The world had made its choice, and they had to respect that.

Takuya awoke to find himself surrounded in green, which he found rather strange. Not only did the colour clash horribly with his choice of attire, but it simply wasn't a colour that he liked in all retrospect. It seemed too calm, too tranquil...too needy of something to brighten the flat mundane and to sate the envious desire.

What was odder was, when he looked down, he found the earth barely in sight, and a fine green sawdust upon what he stood on. On the other side, he could spy the sin blazing, but as if through a shroud, little, if any, heat penetrated. And that left him almost frozen. Ironically though, he was not cold.

Where was he? Why was he here? The questions fluttered through his mind, before fading into the numbing cold, when he noted it really didn't matter.

What he been doing before this? What was he about to do? Try as he may, he couldn't seem to remember. As if there had never been a past nor future, nothing, save this green haze, and something...or someone else.

Was there anyone? For a moment, it had felt like that, but...no longer. Alone, content...no, never content, always wanting, always needing.

'You remember,' a voice crooned in his ear. 'Loosing the things you valued when wanting them, and wanting more. Loosing the full attention of your parents when they had a second child, then once more as their time went to arguing and disagreeing with each other. But you wanted all their love, more than they gave you, more than they had ever, because you knew how it was before and it wasn't, even then, what you deserved. Because they had always wanted a second child, didn't they? More valuable than the first...and not like you.'

Something caressed his cheek gently. 'You were friendly with everyone, because you wanted them to bond with you. But they always took advantage of your friendship, even as you wanted theirs in return. It wasn't fair, was it?'

He remembered as the female voice softly treaded upon tender realms. And he agreed. No, it wasn't fair.

'And when you found a friend, you lost him...but you deserved better than him anyway. You deserved more.'

Something was tickling his consciousness, telling him something was wrong. Once a time, he may have ignored him, but as though a lesson had been graved deep inside, he did neither but rather focused hard, trying to find the untied seam that was threatening to rip apart the entire network.

'Don't you still want it?' the voice crooned again, wavering as if it was about to cry in a summed distress, and suddenly he was warm, tingly, but not content, never content, in the embrace of someone, sharp manicure nails caressing his face in a way that they seemed soft and gentle. 'I can give you that. All of it, and more...'

The sentence trailed off with a sigh, as something suddenly occurred to him.

'I have friends...'

'What friends?' the woman asked him. 'No-one is here, except when I found you.'

'No-one?' his voice sounded almost vulnerable, but something was still bugging him.

'No-one,' the woman affirmed.

The brunette looked down, suddenly finding himself uncomfortable.

'Not content?' the woman asked him. 'No, never...how else will you grow, experience..?'

Content. Somehow, she said it as though it was something dirty, something to be distasted, but something conflicted, because hadn't she just alluded that everything should be desired?

Then it suddenly clicked, and he ripped himself from her hold.

'Liar!' he shouted. 'I'm happy with what I have. I'm the one who pushed my parents and my little brother away. Sure, I got less attention from my parents, but they had Shinya to take care of too, and I had his attention, and all their love, but I did nothing with it. And at school...I just hadn't met the right people is all. I've got great friends now, and nothing is going to separate us.'

'Poor, deluded child,' the woman continued to croon, gathering up her purple skirt and gesturing the other to join her lap once more. A manicured hand stretched out to him, but now it looked almost threatening as the fog was lifting. 'What you imagine as this fantasy are the lies...'

His heart said otherwise.

'They're not.'

'No?' Her face suddenly confronted into rage, the dark mascara on her face making her look rather threatening suddenly. 'You are a weak-minded fool who would sooner return to the uselessness of what you call virtue-' She practically spat that last word like venom. 'Instead of embracing the necessity of your body and soul. No human is ever free of want. Ever!'

'I never said I was!' the other shouted back, a strange yet familiar fire burning within. 'And I never said I wouldn't try to get it, but you're asking for something else!'

Her voice suddenly melted into honey again. 'What is you think I ask?' she crooned. 'I simply want your desires fulfilled. That is why I am here.'

'By taking what I have away?' The brunette shook his head. 'Sorry, not happening.'

'They are hindrances.'

'They are a part of me!'

The woman scowled, looking rather ugly again. 'You were far more compiling earlier,' she snarled. 'You drown in delusions, but I will rectify that now.'

She lunged at him suddenly, grabbing both wrists tightly in her hold, before forcing her lips upon his.

'Feel the love of darkness,' she whispered. 'Feel the force that saved you these ears, and then tell me what you prefer.'

His knees suddenly felt weak as white started to consume his vision, but suddenly, voices were shouting at him, to him, and blackness seeped in again.

This time, he welcomed it, using the sanctuary as a barrier as he shoved the woman away.

She shrieked, and tried to long for him again, but suddenly, other things stood in his way. People he recognised. People he didn't. And other things; a soccer ball, a video console...and even his spirits: Agunimon, Vritramon and one who looked like a hybrid of them, all holding her back.

She shrieked again, but she had been weak before...to weak. Fire surged within him as he pushed her further, engulfing the green...

And then suddenly a symbol with five points, four of which pointed upwards in vain, glowed with a bright fire which could personify evil itself.

And then that too was gone, and darkness beckoned him to rest.

Subtlety had failed the demon as he had broken free unknowingly. And now, she had failed again.

The memory faded too...but it still existed, waiting to be called upon when its need arose. And the memories shoved aside shared that honour, preserved now...and forever.

'Takuya! Hey, Takuya! Wake up!'

'I'm awake, I'm awake,' the addressed said hurriedly, having opened his eyes to find Izumi about to slap him.

She saw his look, blushed, then turned away, as Junpei gave Kouji an odd look. 'That was the perfect opportunity to make some stupid joke,' he pointed out. 'Plenty of stimuli.'

'Not in the mood,' the other muttered, before returning to his brooding silence, having told his tale while the last slept and regressed back to the silent state of depressing thought.

Takuya blinked, before sitting up, finding that they were back in the underground of Shibuya station.

'I'm sorry,' he said suddenly, the apology rising to his lips before he even knew what it was for.

The others all stared at him, as he rearranged his thoughts into some more coherence and then continued. 'I was wrong and you guys still followed me. I guess it was just hard for me to let go of things...anything really.' He snorted to himself. 'Keep the past and go forward. Doesn't work like that.'

'Why not?' the pseudo-Italian asked shrewdly. 'Have you tried?'

'Well...no, not really.'

She gave him a stern look. 'Don't talk before you try,' she lectured. 'And don't get you ego so inflated. We followed because we wanted to follow you.' She looked at the others for a moment. 'I don't know about you guys, but I think I needed someone calling the shots.'

Junpei and Tomoki both nodded, while Kouji made a funny sort of shrug.

'What's with you?' Takuya asked.

'That's what happen when you sleep longer than us,' Izumi glared good-naturedly. 'Who's explaining to this idiot?'

The silence that greeted her told it all.

They rode the elevator to the surface, unsure of where to go. But the second they stepped out, they found chaos. Huddles of people, chatting about a boy who had taken a spill there, a staircase barricaded off as a worker was interrogated by a police officer, and a blue hat sitting at the bottom of the said stairs that was familiar to the two of them.

Suddenly, the chaos vanished as a boy, stoic and cold, walked into an elevator shaft and stood, watching the doors close as another dove in and a third crashed into the closed doors...just that little too late.

The boy with the cap, now identified to them all, banged on the doors in a slight desperation, before turning to look at the levels passing, then at the stairs to the side that could get him there.

And then he was running for them, on them, trying frantically to catch someone before he lost him again...and then a slight misstep, and he was falling.

A sprawled form lying on the stairs, a name fading from his lips with his consciousness as onlookers watched agape...and then there was a barrier enclosing the area where he had fallen...and nothing save a slight blotch of pale blood on white tiles, there at all.

Kouji turned white on the spot, and an outsider would have found it hard to believe that barely a few hours ago, he had not even known he had a brother as he ran frantically through the crowd and the barricade, demanding information.

It only took a few minutes from there to get to the care centre, passing a clock that reported the time only ten minutes past six. It registered to them; time had barely passed in the months they had spent away, and that was a mixture of relief and annoyance (it would have helped if they had known their parents weren't worried sick about them) as they finally made it to their destination.

Only to be stopped at the door by a security guard.

'No-one is allowed into the resuscitation rooms,' he said sternly, catching Kouji around the waist.

'That's my brother,' the other pleaded, on the verge of begging, something he never thought to have done for anyone...but that was before five people had touched his heart in different ways. And he knew, without a doubt, that even if that boy hadn't been his brother, he would still be trying to reach him, after all the chaos thrown and clashed, because that was simply the bond formed in the end, when one could sit and think about it and look past the subtleties to the deeper nuances.

'No-one is allowed into the resuscitation rooms,' the guard repeated.

'Please,' he begged again, voice wavering as the start of tears began at one possibility, no doubt the likelier one. 'My brother, I need to know...if he-'

The guard looked at him, before scrolling something onto a page, receiving a reply a moment later. 'He'll live,' he said. 'But it was a close call. Anything else, they're still examining.'

Kouji nodded and turned away. There was nothing else to be done then. Except fix things elsewhere.

'Let's go home.'

He nodded. 'Yeah, lets.'

He felt a small hand slip into his hold. 'We'll come visit tomorrow,' he piped up. 'As soon as school finishes, we'll come.'

He couldn't help but return the small smile that graced the other's face.

And suddenly, everyone was talking at once, heart lighter than they ever remembered.

Walking out of that care centre was one of the hardest things he had ever done. Even if he planned to return. Even if he was alive. Even if they were essentially useless...but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep without knowing for sure that Kouichi, his brother, would be okay.

Somehow, it all seemed like his fault. Even if the others had already berated him for it. He supposed that would pass in time, much like the guilt over BlackTailmon and Kouichi's own over his loss of control and rampage as Velgmon, as well as Takuya's similar rampage as Vritramon. Time healed all wounds after all, but scars remained even then.

They were almost at the exit when he froze, seeing a very familiar woman conversing with a doctor in a panic. She happened to look up at the same moment, meeting his eyes, still worried, but now placated with the knowledge that everything was okay, but then something else came in them as she recognised the midnight blue that mirrored her own, and before anyone was really aware of what was happening, Kouji was experiencing the first hug he remembered from his first mother.

'Kouji,' she breathed into his hair. 'I thought I'd never see you again. And you've grown so much.' She took a deep, shaky breath, before continuing. 'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.'

The others, suddenly feeling rather awkward, decided to take their leave.

'I'm home,' Takuya called, unlocking the front door and slipping through, toeing off his shoes before hearing the half-hearted clatter of his little brother playing on the floor. Blinking as he heard no noise from his mother, he walked into the living room to find Shinya attempting to connect a 3D car puzzle together...with little success.

Smiling now, he took the pieces from his brother's unenthusiastic hold, clicking them together with ease (it was originally his after all), having the model car built up in minutes.

'Here you go,' he said cheerfully, handing the toy over.

Shinya blinked, before staring carefully at his brother. 'Where did you go?' he asked. 'Did you fall asleep and have one of those ep-epif...aargh, how do you say it?'

'Epiphany?' Takuya suggested, remembering the word when Kouichi had mentioned it about a year ago.

'Yeah, that.' The younger Kanbara blinked up at the elder, now acting like the brother he loved (and sometimes annoyed to dead). 'Or did you go to outer space and meet aliens?'

'Uuh...would you believe me if I told you the second one was mostly true?'

Shinya blinked again. 'Yeah...I would,' he said finally. 'Because it brought my Onii-chan back.'

'Oh Shinya...' And he hugged his little brother tight.

'Ack, you're choking me!'

'Don't exaggerate.'